Geneology Poll for Native Texans (Dallas, Galveston: to buy, live, military)

[TexasReb]

I guess, by the clock, it is now Sunday morning. So I will post my usual Sunday poll.

Now this is a good'un fellow Texans...so y'all hit it right! LOL

Seriously, it is mainly designed for native Texans interested in their family roots and geneology...but of course anybody can jump in.

Let me explain a bit first...

There were three main points of entry into the United States (what became such, anyway) for American colonists. That is, New England (Plymouth and the Puritans ), Middle Atlantic (Pennsylvania/Virgina), and Lower South (South Carolina).

In what might be called the "Great Migration" into Texas, there are certain settlement patterns that emerged from 1850 - 1880 or so. What I am interested in finding out is if the known ancestry of the "Texas Regulars" on our forum coorelate with the same, today

I will post the poll in just a minute (once I get it worked out), but it will go like this, as these figures come from Terry Jordan's classic work "Westview Geography of Texas":

Origins of the immigrant population of Texas:

MID-ATLANTIC (Upper South and Lower Midwest) 47%
sub-culture:
Tennessee - 17%
Kentucky - 5%
North Carolina - 5%
Missouri - 5%
Arkansas - 4%
Other states (Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois) - 11%

LOWER SOUTH -- 34%
sub-culture:
Alabama - 12%
Georgia - 7%
Mississippi - 6%
South Carolina - 4%
Louisiana - 4%
Other states - 1%

NEW ENGLAND
subculture - 3%

EUROPE - 12%

MEXICO - 4%

So anyway, the poll question, if enough options area allowed, is to "check" the main "entry region" and/or states, from which you know for sure your ancestors left to come to Texas.

Does that make sense? If not, hey...what can I say? Now then, let me try and get the poll done! LOL


EDIT: I can see how I already screwed up! The poll will be posted shortly!

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

There were three main points of entry into the United States (what became such, anyway) for American colonists. That is, New England (Plymouth and the Puritans ), Middle Atlantic (Pennsylvania/Virgina), and Lower South (South Carolina).

Just a revision here. The "New England" point of entry is not just the Pilgrim Plymouth Rock fame, but -- more importantly -- New York City.

*afterthought* New York City?!?!?! Somebody fetch a rope! (hee hee...couldn't resist that ol' Pace Picante Sauce commercial spin-off here!

[Poltracker]

You also forgot the ports of Indianola and Galveston from whence a great many German settlers entered in the mid 1800's hence the settlements of New Braunfels, Gruen and others.

[Ketabcha]

Well, I know this much:

My maternal great grandmother came to Texas as a young girl in a covered wagon from Kentucky. I used to listen to her tales of that trip. She would sit in a rocking chair and entertain me for hours as I sat at her feet. Her father came to the US from Holland. They settled in Kentucky and then moved to Texas. My maternal side of the family has lived in Texas ever since except for my mother who is a military wife. But they did retire in Texas

My paternal great great grandmother came to the US from Denmark. They stayed in New York through the generations until my father joined the military.

So, my Texas mother and NY father met right after WWII. Dad was escorting the war dead. Mother worked in Dallas. They met, got married and I was born in Texas.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Poltracker

You also forgot the ports of Indianola and Galveston from whence a great many German settlers entered in the mid 1800's hence the settlements of New Braunfels, Gruen and others.

Yeah, that is true! Another oversight on my part. I can't go back and correct it now, but that fact can be included under the "Europe" designation. As the kids today say: "My Bad"!

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Ketabcha

Well, I know this much:

My maternal great grandmother came to Texas as a young girl in a covered wagon from Kentucky. I used to listen to her tales of that trip. She would sit in a rocking chair and entertain me for hours as I sat at her feet. Her father came to the US from Holland. They settled in Kentucky and then moved to Texas. My maternal side of the family has lived in Texas ever since except for my mother who is a military wife. But they did retire in Texas

My paternal great great grandmother came to the US from Denmark. They stayed in New York through the generations until my father joined the military.

So, my Texas mother and NY father met right after WWII. Dad was escorting the war dead. Mother worked in Dallas. They met, got married and I was born in Texas.

That's a neat story! Reminicent of what my own great-grandmother used to tell of her own grandfather's trek to Texas from Mississippi (where most of my kin came from originally right after the War). Anyway, I used to love to listen to her stories (and of course, in the familar lament, wish I had spent more time and listened more), she said they went the wagon route, and, because there were so many of the family making that trip to Texas, the young men just walked along side the wagon.

They'd stop to camp, and the men went out to shoot rabbits and squirrels and such for supper that night. Or fish at a nearby stream. The Alabama branch pretty much did the same thing, but I don't have quite as much on them as I do the Miss'ippi group! LOL

I have an original of my grandmothers hand-written tales on the subject. Wouldn't trade it for all the cotton in Texas.

Oh man, wasn't they (our pioneer ancestors) a hardy and tougher than nails breed of men and women? They are the stock that really shaped and formed Texas.

Hell, yes, we are proud of our state!

[Westerntraveler]

My maternal grandmother's family settled first in Alabama and then moved to Arkansas.I have at least one relative on that side who fought for the South. My great-great grandfather's family landed in New Orleans from Bavaria and settled in Texas. Some one on my dad's side is rumored to have been a Cherokee who's family was on the Trail of Tears.My dad's mom's family immigrated from Czeckslovakia and Bohemia. My family has been in Texas for 5 to 6 generations. My family has been in the US since the 1700's.

[TXNGL]

This is a fun thread, TexasReb. Maybe we could all throw some surnames out there, see if any of us are related?

[nativecat]

Hey TexReb,
I did some investigating in my family heritage. My paternal grandmother (Nolan) was born in Bracketville, TX, one of 13 children. Her father was from Ireland and we think he came in at Galveston. He was a third son who was encouraged to join the priesthood, but decided to come to America instead. Story goes that he did a little creative "gun-running" to get enough money to buy a ranch around Bracketville and raised angora goats. He was the sheriff in Bracketville for quite a few years.
Her husband was from Louisiana, German heritage. (Horton)

My maternal grandfather is also Irish (Coulter) and we have traced back to Ohio, but no farther.
His wife's family goes way back to England. Landed in New Jersey before american revolutionary war. (Biddle)

[TT Dave]

I put this in the other thread with the poll, wasn't sure if it should go there, so once again, here it is:

Father's side-my grandfather's ancestors were from Ireland to start with, then ended up in Missouri at some point. A few from Missouri moved to California in the late 1930's or so. My grandmother was from Oklahoma (she had some American Indian ancestry)

Mother's side-my grandfather's ancestors were from Germany to start with, then immigrated to somewhere in the eastern U.S. (can't remember the state), then moved to Texas. My grandmother's ancestors were also from Germany to start with, then lived in Ohio, then moved to Texas.